PR Resources

Marketing Degree Guide: Public Relations Resources

What is it?

Public relations personnel, also known as communications or media specialists, are responsible for creating images. They have to develop the public persona for the company they’re working for and create ways to get a positive message about the organization into consumers’ minds. This can be through advertising, charity campaigns, press releases, television appearances, or even just making sure the company’s website is well organized and easy to use. The PR manager has to maintain a positive relationship with journalists and sister companies, always making sure that their organization comes out looking like a class act. This role is an essential part of any business, because the company’s reputation is reliant on the skills of their PR manager.

Who needs it?

Large corporations are the most obvious patrons of the PR profession, but almost every other type of organizations participates in public relations in one form or another. Television networks who re-vamp their content, cereal brands who decide to turn health conscious, new public assistance programs run by the government—all of these things are dreamed up and organized by PR professionals. Even individual people, like authors, actors or politicians, have PR agents to manage their public image. If a politician gets caught in a scandal, his PR person is the one who steps in to clean up the mess. PR people are the managers and janitors of the business world.

What to expect from a career in Public Relations

A good public relations manager had to be a little bit of everything: advertiser, organizer, writer, sociologist, business manager, researcher, and psychologist. Any number of different pressing issues might be thrown at her in a single day, and she must be able to deal with them all, whether it’s a public relations disaster like the BP oil spill, or just a hiccup like an author failing to arrive to an interview on time. The PR person is the one who has to step in, smooth things over and make them work again, which makes it a very stressful position. Do not go into public relations if you are faint of heart.

Most public relations positions only require a bachelor’s degree in communications, journalism, marketing or a related field, though many organizations have their own training programs they require new employees to go through. While PR is a growing market, which means that there are more job opportunities becoming available, entry-level jobs are very competitive. For more information, visit the Bureau of Labor Statistics.